One of the most enthusiastic “peace monitors” at the April 2 Books
Not Bombs protest in Sydney was Doris Owens, 65. Owens was one of 11 people
charged with “treason” for urging young people not to register for the
military
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In last weekÂ’s 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, I reported on federal Labor leader Simon CreanÂ’s public backflip on the ALP's original call for Australian troops not to participate in a non-UN approved war against Iraq. Many ALP MPs,
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SYDNEY — On April 2, around 1200 anti-war students and their supporters defied the NSW police by gathering in Sydney’s Town Hall Square to oppose the war on Iraq and reaffirm their right to protest. Despite a
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SYDNEY — The copious numbers of corporate journalists present at the April 2 student anti-war rally may have spent four to five hours dashing from one end of Town Hall to another in search of a violent spectacle, but, unlike
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Thanks to a compliant media, with reporters embedded in units of the US and British military forces invading Iraq, we are all being spared the sight and sound of things that would almost certainly turn us wild with anger and grief. There were no
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At the end of March, Baxter detainees wrote an open letter to the Australian people. It said, in part, “The government policy is so hard, so tough — they don't want to grant us protection, even on humanitarian grounds. At
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This open letter to Bob Carr was issued by Books Not Bombs on April 2. You call us violent demonstrators but we are for peace. We want the bloody, unjust and illegal war in Iraq to stop. We want the bombing to stop. We want the troops to be
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The National Union of Students (NUS) has organised a national day of action against funding cuts and student fee increases for April 10. Kylie Moon, a leader of the student anti-war group Books Not Bombs, has called on all
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91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ WeeklyÂ’s ANDREW MARTIN spoke to protesters about why they were there. “WeÂ’re here for the Iraqi people, to stop the war and to protest against John Howard. He represents war, hate and anger. All he wants to do is fight. “The
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Books Not Bombs protest The decision on April 2 by the students to call off the march and be satisfied with a rally in Sydney Town Hall Square was an example of excellent decision-making by the Books Not Bombs leadership. What I object to is the
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SYDNEY — The April 2 Books Not Bombs student anti-war protest in Sydney is the latest of several peaceful political demonstrations to be declared "unlawful" in the last six months by the NSW Labor government, led by Premier Bob
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The building industry royal commission's final 23-volume report (except for one volume which is being kept secret) was made public on March 26-27. By the time of federal workplace relations minister Tony Abbott's speech to the
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MELBOURNE — The March 26 meeting of the Workers Against the War group voted to condemn the violence of the NSW police against student anti-war protesters in Sydney and offered to provide support in the form of marshals to students
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PORT AUGUSTA — Recently, teenagers at the Baxter detention centre started classes at Port Augusta's high school. I want to write a positive story, as there are so many tragic events in the world at the moment. I have
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As the war in Iraq passed its first fortnight, thousands of Iraqis have been killed by US, Australian and British troops. Unlike many of the US dead and injured, we will never know most of the IraqisÂ’ names, what their lives
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SYDNEY — A group of volunteer solicitors, barristers and law students set up to monitor police behaviour at demonstrations have expressed serious concern at the refusal by police to allow the April 2 student anti-war protest,
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On March 31, soldiers from the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division stationed at a roadblock near the Iraqi towns of Najaf and Karbala opened fire on a car, killing 11 of the civilians inside. According to an “embedded” Washington
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Following the police brutality at the March 26 Books Not Bombs student anti-war protest in Sydney, and threats of more prior to the BNB protest on April 2, the corporate media and NSW Labor government ran a campaign of slander and red-baiting
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SYDNEY — The Books not Bombs coalition issued a call for solidarity with the April 2 student anti-war protest, following the police provocation that occurred on March 26. Among those who expressed solidarity were the Victorian Peace Network,
News
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CANBERRA — More than 100 people attended an anti-war teach-in on April 5, organised by the ACT Network Opposing War. Most participants, including students and academics, had attended anti-war protests in Canberra and the
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According to Victorian Greens refugee spokesperson Pamela Curr, the three remaining asylum seekers on Christmas Island were secretly removed at 3am on March 25. "A specially chartered plane came in from [Papua] New Guinea", she
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Know who they're fighting for "My first reaction when I saw it was this was not a political statement in any way by the men and women of 101st. I think the 101st was being pretty creative and naming things after what reminds them of home. And I
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Preston anti-war protestMELBOURNE — On April 5, 80 people gathered at the Preston Town Hall for an anti-war rally called by the Darebin Anti-War Group. After hearing from Alex Bhatal from the Greens, Reihana Mohideen from the
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BRISBANE — A number of suburban protests were held on March 29 to demand "No war on Iraq" and "Bring the troops home". Initiated by the Socialist Alliance, the protests were held in West End, Fortitude Valley, Stones Corner and
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BY CHRISTINA SNOWDON & GRANT COLEMAN On April 2, students in Wollongong and Brisbane held protest actions in solidarity with anti-war students defending their right to protest in Sydney. One-hundred people gathered in Brisbane. Speakers discussed
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SYDNEY — A concerted campaign by the NSW Labor Council has not yet succeeded in splitting the peace movement in Sydney. The campaign, which was applauded by the pro-war Murdoch press, shifted into high gear in the lead-up to
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BRISBANE — "We are not anti-globalisation, we are pro-democracy, pro-human rights, pro-food sovereignty. We are not against international trade, it is the capitalist race to the bottom that we are against", declared Anuradha Mittal,
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MELBOURNE — On April 3, a student from the prestigious Melbourne High School received a detention. His crime was mentioning the war in class and questioning his principal. "I don't think it is appropriate for the school to be
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SYDNEY — Around 150 people attended the Peoples Assembly for Peace conference at the Haymarket campus of University of Technology, Sydney on March 30. The conference, organised by the Walk Against the War Coalition,
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PERTH — Despite a hysterical campaign by the Western Australian media and police opposing the right of young people to protest against the Iraq war, a 400-strong anti-war rally was held by Youth and Students Against the
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ADELAIDE — Everywhere you go, there are indications that young people oppose this war on Iraq. Anti-war badges pinned to school uniforms, discussions about Iraq on the 3.30pm buses, huge Books Not Bombs meetings and massive
Analysis
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Why Iraqis are not welcoming US 'liberators' “I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators”, US vice-president Dick Cheney said on March 16, three days before US-led military forces began their invasion of Iraq. The real
World
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On March 26, the Sindicato de Estudiantes (Spanish School Student's Union), together with other student organisations, called a highly successful student general strike against the war in Iraq. More than 90% of high school and university students
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In Pakistan, student activists are beaten and intimidated by the Islamic fundamentalists; in Zimbabwe, police attend student meetings and political activity on most campuses and colleges is prohibited; and in India, blind
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As Palestinians brace themselves for the first anniversary of the Israeli occupation forces' bloody invasion of the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp, it has been revealed that an Israeli expert has guided US marine officers through its putrid alleys to
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BAGHDAD, March 24 — At the al Kindi Hospital emergency department, Fatima Abdullah is screaming in outrage: "Why do you do this to us?". Her eight-year-old, Fatehah is dead, two other daughters are on stretchers, wounded by a
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Olga Salanueva is the wife of Rene Gonzalez, one of five Cubans imprisoned by the US for trying to stop terrorism against their country. She hasn't heard a word from her husband since he and his four comrades were locked down on
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When Iraqi TV offices in Baghdad were hit by a US missile strike on March 25, the targeting of the media was strongly criticised by human rights groups. However, much of the US corporate media cheered. General-secretary of the International
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JAKARTA — On March 30, at least 100,000 people marched through this city's streets to protest against the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its British and Australian appendages. In the wake of the mass anti-war march, there
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HANS GEBZE is a West Papuan student based in Yogyakarta. He has been involved in political struggle since before 1998. He is a secretary-general of the Alliance of Papuan Students (AMP). Gebze spoke to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's MAX LANE about the West
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US warplanes dropped cluster bombs on the Iraqi town of Hilla. The deadly anti-personnel weapons are also believed to have been used in assaults on Najaf, Nasiriya and Basra by US-led invasion forces. Cluster munitions
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The British Guardian reported on April 1 that the US government is in the process of creating its own team of "weapons inspectors" to "disarm" Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). According to the Guardian's
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Iraq's desperate humanitarian situation has suddenly become a retroactive justification for the war, even for the attacking of civilian targets. The need to get aid into Basra prompted a British military spokesperson on March 25 to
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The White House has claimed that Russian companies are providing assistance to Iraq to help it resist the US-led invasion. The Pentagon has extended this accusation to include Syria, which along with Russia, France and Germany,
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One of the first US soldiers killed in the invasion of Iraq was marine Kendall Waters-Bey. In his working-class Baltimore neighbourhood, there is anger, pain and sorrow. His four sisters have been openly critical of US President
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"The Iraqi people will administer Iraq", White House press secretary Ari Fleischer declared, appropriately on April Fool's Day. That same day, Jay Garner, the retired US army general who has been selected by the White House to
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JOHANNESBURG — On April 5, more than 12,000 people marched behind about 15 "human shields", who have recently returned from Iraq, to oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq. The protest, organised by the Anti-War Coalition (AWC), marched through the
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MANILA — "War against poverty, not war against Iraq and Mindanao!" chanted 12,000 workers — members of the workers' party, Partido ng Manggagawa, and the socialist labour group, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) — as they marched down
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LONDON — Australians Against the War (AATW) held its first formal meeting on March 30, attended by about 20 Australians living in London. The meeting flowed from the group's prominent participation in the 500,000-strong
Culture
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Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. Includes the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ news. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm. Phone (02) 9564 1277. Visit
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Scotland: Socialism in the Making A film by Jill Hickson Actively Radical TV Screening 9pm, Sunday, April 16, on Channel 31, Sydney. REVIEW BY LEAH GANLEY Scotland: Socialism in the Making is a short film about the Scottish Socialist
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Which of the greedy vultureswill be first to snatch the carcass?There's little hope they'llshare the spoils of war.Will Australia get its dollars worthof reconstruction contracts?Will Cheney get the oilit's all been for? Johnnie can use our taxesno
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Art Sans FrontieresSEAS Art Basement, 66 Hindley Street, AdelaideUntil April 11 (auction at 7pm, April 11) REVIEW BY JO ELLIS ADELAIDE — "Nations have imposed borders but art and human rights transcend them", state the organisers of Art Sans
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REVIEW BY BEA BREAR
Ned Kelly
Directed by Gregor Jordan
Based on Robert Drewe's novel, Our Sunshine
With Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Rachel Griffiths and Naomi Watts
At major cinemas